Southwestern Ohio Basketball (SWOB) was started in September of 1995 by Tom Sunderman and Mike Buckle. Their vision at the time was to offer small basketball leagues for kids to work on their game in an organized environment. In their first year alone they had over 175 teams participate in their fall, winter and spring leagues.  They also successfully ran their first preseason winter tourney with 36 teams and a spring AAU tournament with over 40 teams participating. In giving back to the community and facility where SOWB originated a lot of the tournament proceeds over the first couple of years were donated back to St. Pius. 

 

In just two short years, the leagues really took off and in 1997 they ended up with over 550 teams in their fall, winter, spring and summer leagues.  Their tournaments continued to grow with their spring tourney, known as the Southwestern Ohio Shootout toppling 150 teams, and their preseason tourney jumping to 80 teams. At that time, they decided to make SWOB  a full time job to develop leagues, tourneys, clinics and clubs for the youth of the Greater Cincinnati area to participate in and learn the fundamentals of the game 

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In 1998, Tom Sunderman took over as the State Director of Ohio AAU Boys Basketball and expanded their Cincinnati Royals AAU program. This program has produced over 90 players who went on to participate in collegiate sports. Their teams have placed 16 times in the Nation's Top 10, while winning multiple state titles along the way.   In continuing their expansion efforts, the Cincy Kings feeder program has been recently established and already has 48 teams under their umbrella.

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SWOB went on to develop the Drills n Skills program 7 years ago to teach kids the fundamentals of ball handling and footwork and had over 650 kids participating this year.  They also have had over 550 kids participate in their basketball camps that are now offered throughout the year.  In addition, their seasonal leagues continue to grow with close to 1,100 teams signed up in 2018-2019.

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SWOB's organization and programs have become the largest youth basketball program in the entire Midwest, offering more opportunities than any other for kids to develop their game and will only continue to grow further.  SWOB currently operates out of its 4 court facility at Landmark Sports Complex and utilizes the 4 court facility at Friars Park.